The three parties working to form a government in Maharashtra plan to give money meant for investment in a bullet train project to farmers instead, sources said.
A prospective common minimum programme being prepared by the Shiv Sena, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Congress has a major thrust on loan waivers, sources in the Congress and the NCP said.
Maharashtra's share in the cost of building the Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed rail line -- 25 per cent -- will be given to farmers, the sources said.
The project's estimated cost is Rs 1.08 lakh crore; it is being built with help from Japan (through a loan) and is expected to be completed by 2023. Both the Congress and the Shiv Sena have opposed the bullet train project.
POLITICAL INSTABILITY NEARING END?
Maharashtra was placed under President's Rule this month, following a prolonged delay in government formation in the wake of an October state election that the Shiv Sena and the BJP won together.
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But the two former allies fell out bitterly, unable to agree that the chief minister's job should be shared using a rotation policy. Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut on Thursday said a final decision on a new Maharashtra government would be taken in two days.